The millions of Irish fans of the English Premier League will be able to watch the competition on Sky Sports, ESPN and Setanta Ireland for the next three years.

The Premier League is the most popular overseas sporting competition in Ireland, and draws consistently high viewing figures. As many as 12,000 fans travel across the Irish Sea to watch games in England every week, according to Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, with Manchester United and Liverpool the most widely followed teams. Millions more watch matches on television.

Sky Sports has secured the majority of matches, landing five packages identical to the five packages it has won the rights to in the UK.

ESPN will screen 23 matches each season, while Setanta will broadcast 33 matches at 3pm on Saturday afternoons. Each of the deals runs from the summer of 2010 until the summer of 2013.